I Told You I'll Be Back
by xxWHITExFOXxx
Summary: As Levy waits for Gajeel to return her worries get the best of her and falls into an internal sleep almost as if her mind goes on shut down, Gajeel returns but is faced with the new problem of Levy's health.


News came in that a dragon was flying past an island in the middle of the ocean. Gajeel always was the first one to show up in the guild so he was the first to hear of it.

'its probably another fake like all the ones on the past' he thought, 'I'll go check it out anyway.'

Mirajane interrupted his thought, "please tell Natsu and Wendy when you see them."

He went to the library where you could always find one blue haired mage that loves to read.

"hey shrimp, I'll be back... I'm going on a job." He lied. He doesn't need to make her worry about stupid things like a dragon.

Levy didn't take one glance away from her book, " Oh okay, be careful and take pantherLily with you." knowing how he is, she looked up from her book and shot him a stern but concerned look.

"whatever" He said while turned his back to leave out the door, he raised his right hand to give a signal goodbye and out the door he went.

PantherLily found the black haired dragonslayer about to leave the village.

"you're not gonna tell Natsu and Wendy?" the black exceed was curious.

"Nah" Gajeel didn't want anyone else worrying on this matter,"I Don't need anyone elses help" He hid the concerned look on his face.

And with that him and his black flying cat left the village in search of the mysterious dragon sighting.

A few days had passed with no sight of Gajeels return, Levy was beginning to feel worried. She decided to see if anyone knows of his disappearance, and went into the main hall of the guild house where she found Natsu, Lucy and Wendy.

"Yo," Natsu noticed her coming and had his big grin he always has on his face.

"Do you know if Gajeel is back from the mission he went on? Levy asked them.

"HE WENT ON A MISSION WITHOUT ME?!" Natsu was getting angry like he usually does.

Wendy cut in, "NO, we haven't seen him for a while actually."

This worried levy more. Lucy noticed

"I Know! ask mirajane, she ought to know something" Lucy pointed at mirajane over at the bar, "shes over there."

After thanking Lucy, she found the beautiful white haired devil.

"Do you know where Gajeel went off to?" deciding to rephrase the question.

"I remember him leaving after hearing some news about a dragon sighting on a far island, i told him to tell Natsu and Wendy but i guess he didn't." noticing that Natsu caught up on their still concerned for Levy.

the grin turned to a serious frown when he heard 'dragon'. "What was that about a dragon sighting?" He interrupted them. nothing on his mind but thoughts of igneel, Wendy appeared to have similar thoughts.

Mirajane told them about the news she spoke of to Gajeel.

Natsu shot Wendy and his blue exceed a serious look and nodded. Following his lead they nodded back along with Lucy and Carla, Wendy's white exceed.

"LETS GO!" Natsu yelled for the whole guild to hear them. and the group took off in search for Gajeel and the mysterious dragon.  
-

The group left without a second thought. speed walking with their shoulders high walked out the guild doors with the serious looks they always have when they are concentrated on something. Levy was gone, disappeared into her library where she could be alone. She couldn't get him out of her thoughts. she kept remembering past experiences with Gajeel, like the time grimoire heart was after them during the S class exams. He kept his cool no matter the situation. but the most important part is his eyes. they changed...somehow they changed from how he normally was. She sat there in the middle of her giant fortress of books, her head down, too busy focusing on the situation at hand, to read.

'Is it really okay to be sitting here right now?' she could have went with Natsu and the others to find Gajeel, but when Mirajane told them about the dragon sighting her whole body went stiff. Thats when she realized that she would be of no use against a dragon. only dragonslayers could do it. Levy clapped her hands together and prayed that Gajeel would be safe and return together with everyone.

"So thats where you were" a familier voice called from across the room. Scarlet hair laying on her back. it was Erza. "I've been looking for ya" she threw Levy a reassuring smirk.

"what for?" the mage asked. Gajeel was still on her mind but she was now concentrated on Erza.

"I just got back from a mission and heard what had happened with Gajeel." she had a concerned look in her eyes but still held a smile. "I wanted to make sure you were okay." Erza sat next to Levy in her nice fort of books.

Levy looked away from Erza's sincere eyes, She puffed up her cheeks to disguise her worried face and shut her eyes. "and how do you think I need help when nothing is wrong with me?"

"because we all know how you feel about Gajeel" Erza ignored her attempt to hide her feelings.

Levy held her ground but couldn't stop the blush that went across her face, which made Erza have a giggle. "What is that supposed to mean!?" She threw her face towards Erza with an annoyed look, still trying to hide her concerned look. "He got himself into that mess, i couldn't care less about him!"

Erza looked deeply into Levy's eyes with a worried look but it quickly went from worried to entertained and they sat there, staring at each other. Erza kept her smirk on and finally after a while said something to break the silence. "anyway, i also came to pick you up" she stood up, stretched her back and looked at levy. "i was going shopping for some new armors and since Lucy is out and everyone else is busy, i wanted to take you."

"are you joking?" Levy said, "i never go shopping, the only time i go shopping is for food and books."

"then lets go find you some good books!" Erza grabbed Levy's hand, lifted her to her feet and they left out the guild.

Levy was too stunned and surprised, she said nothing and followed Erza to wherever they were going. They kept walking until they found a book store. They were silent while Erza was looking at all the different books but still not saying anything to Levy. Levy used this silence to try and figure out what Erza's true intentions were by bringing her out here in the first place.

Ever since the group left a week ago Levy hasn't said a word, even worse hasn't read one word of any book. Everyone in the guild was worried for her health, but she wouldn't do anything they asked except let them feed her. After a while she became bedridden, Mirajane and Erza took turns in taking care of her along with the rest of the guilds help, especially Jet and Droy, they haven't left Levy's room except for when Erza or Mirajane was dressing her. Waiting for Gajeel is the only thing they can do.

Erza and Mirajane were sitting next to Levy sleeping on her bed.

"give it a few more days... they will come back sooner or later." Erza whispered to herself in good hopes.

Mirajane gently laid her hand on Erza shoulder, "don't you worry, it's natsu we are talking about! they will be back" she gave a reassuring smile to her scarlet haired friend.

Erza lifted her head and forced a half smile to reassure Mirajane that she was okay. "your right."

Another day passed with Levy in the same condition as the past week. all hope has been lost until the next morning. another morning started the same with droy and jet sitting next to Levy, looking out of the window that peers all the way to the entrance. Jet stares at the entrance for an hour or so until his eyes bust open in noticing something. He almost knocked Droy over to tell him to look at what he is seeing to make sure its not an hallucination. ... They both saw it.

Jet ran as fast as he could to the main hall of the guild where everybody sat around depressed and quiet. "They are here! im positive its them! they have returned!" He squeezed out every word with all the breath he had in him.

Erza stood up confused, "Jet, what are you talking about?"

Breathing heavily jet managed a few more words, "Gajeel...Its him!"

All the guild members heads poked up like he was speaking ludacris. then the guild doors sprang open with a loud kick... Gajeel stood at the door... his hair was a wreck and his shirt was torn off with his body covered in blood. Pantherlily and the other exceeds were with him, carla was carrying an unconscious Wendy, Natsu and Gray were being dragged by Gajeels left hand while Lucy was on his right shoulder. all unconscious. He stood there breathing heavily...the guild members were so stunned they couldn't move nor speak. It seemed like an eternity of silence only to be interrupted by the sudden gushing sound of Gajeels open wounds across his whole torso, his blood was spilling everywhere, after a few seconds he dropped Lucy and fell to the ground. The guild jumped up and surrounded the whole group. Carla told them all what happened while Erza and Mirajane were helping Gajeel to a table.

"it was a dragon...but not the ones we were looking for." Carla gently flew over to an empty table and laid Wendy on it, then sat next to her and stared at the floor trying to explain their misfortune. "it was...acnologia"

The guild gasped in surprise to the news. Erza sprang up with an angry but serious face. "i thought he disappeared after destroying the island?"

Carla looked at Erza with her always so calm look, "it was zeref, he still wanted to kill Natsu for some odd reason, and ... he had acnologia by his side. we managed to get away ..with Gajeels help that is." she looked over at Gajeels almost lifeless body. "If he didn't show up then we all would've been dead for sure." Carla tensed her face and began to remember what happened. "we were searching for Gajeel in the mountain tops when Zeref found us, he started crying for some reason and told Natsu to kill him or he will kill all of us instead. When Natsu began to fight Zeref we were dealing with acnologia, Zeref didn't seem like he was trying to fight natsu but only wanted to die himself. For some odd reason, Zeref couldn't seem to control his magic power and blew Natsu into his unconscious state. Zeref stood there over Natsu's body and turned into a whole different person after defeating Natsu, his eyes turned red and acnologia picked him up and started attacking us. " she fell silent for a few seconds. "after Gray was beat, Gajeel shown up while Wendy was treating Natsu's wounds. He threw a couple good punches at the dragon, it didn't do much but grant him a few seconds to spare, he used that time to grab Natsu and Gray. He hauled them over to where we were and told us to escape while he bought some time. pantherlily grabbed gray while Happy grabbed Natsu, as we made our way down the mountain."

She stopped and tried to remember more until Gajeel awoke and groaned in pain trying to sit up on the table. "you idiots didn't know how to follow orders." The only thing he could squeeze from his strength to say while Erza and Mirajane laid him back down on the table.

"After we left Natsu and Gray by a tree at the bottom of the mountain, Wendy decided to head back up there to help Gajeel, Me and Lucy tried to stop her but she didn't want Gajeel to die because she wanted him to come back for Levy. We couldn't change her mind so we decided to leave Natsu and Gray with Happy at the tree, and help Gajeel." her eyes squinted in frustration, "when we got there Gajeel was badly wounded by acnologia's claw hitting his chest, it tore his short off and left a deep gash in his chest. Wendy ran to him and pantherlily grabbed him and they ran back to where we were. After that acnologia spotted us and breathed in a bunch of air about to roar. i managed to dodge it with pantherlily but the others were caught up in it, fortunately it wasn't as powerful as back then but it managed to knock Lucy and Wendy unconscious. Gajeel was guarding them with his body which he cloaked himself in iron. It shielded them from death but still knocked them unconscious. Once we got a chance i grabbed Wendy while Gajeel threw Lucy over his shoulder and pantherlily took out his sword and swung with all his might at acnologia which gave as a second to escape, pantherlily joined us as we were running down the mountain. and we caught up to where Natsu and Gray were. and Gajeel grabbed the back of both of their shirts and dragged them all the way here while pantherlily followed and i carried Wendy here."

"and thats how we ended here" Happy finished

The guild was silent, trying to contemplate what the white exceed said.

a pink haired mage that was laying on the floor grumbled and slowly made his way to his knees. "Where did Zeref go!?" He opened his eyes to see that he was back at the guild, "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!"

"Shuttup flamehead" Gray mumbled in his sleep.

"What did you just say popsickle?" Natsu whispered under his breath angrily and ran to the ice mage and started shaking him.

Gray awoke and instantly stripped his shirt from his body and grabbed Natsu by the neck of his shirt, they started growling at eachother. The guild started laughing "they never change" one of the members said.

Gajeel remembered something, he faced Erza "what is that bookworm off doing?"

The whole guild stopped and stared at Gajeel with a concerned look.

"Whats with the faces? Geehee" he let out a nervous chuckle.

"you need to see for yourself" Erza stood up, "but you cant do anything in your condition."

"this is nothing!" he stood up and shook his head as if all his wounds were nothing but bruises. "take me to where she is, now"

Erza took Gajeel to where they kept Levy, it was an abandoned library. Natsu, Lucy and Wendy, now fully awake, followed them. When they entered the bedroom, Gajeel ran up to the bed, Levy was sitting up staring straight at the wall...as if ignoring everyones existence in the room. Gajeel didn't say anything but looked at her eyes. her pupils were a faded tint of gray and the light didn't reflect on them as if her spirit left her body.

"she has been in this condition for about a week now" Erza broke the silence.

"and you didn't do anything about it!?" Gajeel yelled but not too loud since he was next to Levy.

"we tried healing magic and other sorts of medicine we even read some of her books about it ... nothing" Erza looked at the floor with a frustrated look.

*tch* Gajeel began to get frustrated and grabbed Levy's shoulders and turned her face towards his, she acted as if she didn't even see him. Gajeel clenched his teeth and let go of his grip. He stood up, faced down, walked out of the room and disappeared. the guild couldn't find Gajeel anywhere after that, they stopped looking after a few hours.

"i don't want anyone to visit Levy few the next few days" Erza stood in the middle of the guild.

Jet and Droy opposed the idea, "why?" jet asked.

"we all know how Levy feels about Gajeel, He doesn't quite get it though, we need to leave her alone for a while and Gajeel will end up going back to her. i can guarantee you that Gajeel will be back. Gajeel is the only one who could possibly bring Levy back to who she was."

the guild went quiet after that and agreed to Erza's terms.

Later that night at the water fall on top of the fiore mountain, Gajeel was sitting under the waterfall thinking. 'this is all my fault, i shouldn't have lied to her.' Gajeel was battling himself. 'i should go see her' He got up but remembered 'Erza or Mirajane might be there watching her, they have it under control' Gajeel stood there. "but... i...want... to see her" he said to himself, a small pink fluster came across his face. 'What did i just say?' he continued arguing to himself while walking down towards the place Erza brought him earlier. he made it to the small abandoned library and twisted the door handle, 'its locked?' he thought that Erza would've been there, he looked around the house and found an open window near the roof. Gajeel climbed up the wall and inside the window. he slowly found the room Levy was in and sat next to her bed.

the moon was shining brightly almost perfectly in the window, Levy was staring at the bright sphere in the dark blue sky. Gajeel just stared at her facial expressions, she smiled at the moon, it was different then her normal smile it was a gentle and cute small smile. Gajeel got mad and grabbed her shoulders for her to face him but even though her body was turned towards him, her head was still facing the moon. Gajeel calmed down and let go of her then threw his face in his hands and looked down at the floor.

Levy's condition didn't change. Gajeel would leave every morning to go on a mission with pantherlily and come back ...usually badly wounded, he would choose missions that had a big bounty on them but the same amount of danger, he would get them done but came back even worse then he was the last mission. this continued for 2 years. the only thing that changed in Levy was her hair, her hair had gotten about the same length as cana's. Gajeel had also grown his hair out, it now reached the back of his knees.

Natsu found Gajeel with Levy one night, again covered in wounds. "why are you going on these hard missions by yourself?" Natsu almost whispered to Gajeel.

"Geehee, you don't think i can handle it, these are just scratches, nothing i can't handle." He didn't take his eyes off of Levy's soulless body.

"are you going to continue doing this forever?"

"as long as it takes, these missions pay well so i can take care of Levy and myself as well as get this library in tip top shape.

Natsu looked around, the library looked almost brand new, it even was filled with books for some reason. "where did these books come from?" he asked.

"everyday that she stays like this, i go and buy another book that i never saw her read, and i set it with all these other books." He looked at Levy "and im gona make you read them all when you wake up, geehee"

"and what will happen if you go on one of these missions and die?"

"that wont happen" Gajeel had a serious look in his eye, "i promised her that i would be back, she hasn't acknowledged my return yet."

Natsu gave him a smirk "thats so selfish of you"

Gajeel returned a smirk, both of them showing their fangs wit their smiles at eachother "...maybe so." After that, Natsu left with Lucy on another mission.

-

a few weeks later, Gajeel returned from once again another mission, but this one was harder then the last and Gajeel was left limping slowly down the road his blood trailed behind him, he carried a new book in his hand to add to the collection that was almost hoarding the library. he slowly limped his way to the library and set the book on the shelf with the others. the book was called *the last day of torment* He sat next to Levy and gave her some iced tea. Levy gently took the cup from his hands and smiled at him the way she smiled at the moon 2 years ago. Gajeel's eyes were wide at the sudden change of mood, 'she finally looked at me as if i was here' he kept staring at her faded eyes as she happily drank the cup of clear brown liquid. 'her body may be here but SHE isn't ' he thought to himself. He looked down to his feet, which were covered in blisters from these ongoing missions. then noticed a couple drops of water dripped on the floor... he put a hand on his cheek, it was coming from him. 'how could i possibly be crying?' then he looked at the small girl in the bed, she was staring at him.

"ga...jee..l" her small hand rubbed Gajeel's cheek and felt the tears flowing from his eyes. Her eyes began to turn darker, her pupils came back into color, as her eyes filled with tears. she threw her arms around Gajeel's neck as she started sobbing. "You came back!"

astonished that she finally came back, he was stunned. Gajeel wrapped his arms around the crying girl. "thank god..."

the two held tightly onto eachother, Levy leaned back so she could take a look at Gajeels crying face, she let out a little giggle, "your not the type that should be crying in front of a girl" she leaned into his cheek and kissed a dry tear under his eye then slid down his cheek to his mouth. 'maybe ..i do care a little for him' thinking back to when she talked to Erza about her feelings for him. she pecked his lips with hers.

After the small peck, Gajeel grabbed Levy's waist and pulled her back to him, "your different..." Levy was surprised, the sound of his voice changed, instead of his usual upbeat sounding voice, it sounded deep and serious, she looked in his eyes...they were glistening from the moonlight, it was just like the night 2 years ago. But his eyes had a softer feel to them and it was like he was looking deep into her heart. He pulled her closer to his lips and drew her into a deep kiss, she allowed his tongue to wander in her mouth.

The moment seemed to last forever until it was broken, Levy didn't want it to end, "Gajeel...I..." Levy started but looked away from embarrassment of being flustered.

"I love you " Gajeel interrupted her and gave her a small grin while gently grabbing her chin to face him.

Levy was stunned, she couldn't let out one word to reply to that.

Gajeel caught her unexpecting lips with his grinning smile, "i told you i would be back didn't i?" he threw her down onto the bed and followed her into the hoard of blankets.

Just beginning to realize the changes in herself, she felt her hair in surprise, "wait, what happened to me?!" she looked at Gajeel and noticed not only was he covered in blood and wounds that his hair was way longer then before, "and..what the hell happened to you?!"

Gajeel let out his deep chuckle, he told her about what happened with acnologia and what happened with her when he came back also about the passing of 2 years.

"I've been like this for two years?!" she raised herself from her bed and laid her feet flat on the floor, she lifted herself up but stumbled, Gajeel caught her and helped her back to the bed.

"watch yourself, your body hasn't walked in two years." Gajeel got up and grabbed a cane that Erza brought for him when she found him wounded, "use this to help keep your balance and get the hang of walking again, I'll go make you something to eat."

"oh..okay" she took the cane from his blistered hands. "what have you been doing for these two years?" she said while staggering herself up to stand.

"nothing you should be worried about, but i did buy you alot of new books to read. other then that i have been watching you."

"you came here every night just to see if i gotten better?" she looked away flustered.

"of course" Gajeel looked at her with a gently grin. He finished making her a nice warm bowl of chicken soup and lay it down on the table next to her, "its a little hot but let it sit for a little bit and it will be fine."

Levy smiled while she blushed a deep red. "thank you." after slowly going to the table she sat down and started sipping on the homemade chicken soup.

Gajeel let her be while he made his way into the shower, it may have been a torn down library but with all the time he put into it, it could be someones home. her turned the knob to the warm water handle and stood there getting soaked in the warm water letting it hit his face. He left the door open so if Levy had any trouble, he would be there.

Levy finished her soup and stumbled her way over to the sink where she cleaned it and let it sit on the drying rack. 'i need to check where im at' she made her way outside even with the small night dress she had on, when she went outside her memory kicked in and she knew exactly where she was. 'this is the library i always went to, to be alone and read, she would usually spend nights here. she walked back into the abandoned building, looked at the pile of books that Gajeel left her. 'i never seen these books in here before... nor have i ever seen them in my life!' she thought then she spotted a book that looked familiar *the last day of torment* she took it off the top of the pile, 'this is the book i wanted to read for a while but never gotten the chance to! its about a man who loved a girl but she lost all her memory about him and he waited on her for about 10 years until she somehow managed to gain her memory back and they could finally' Levy stopped in her own thought, 'this kinda reminds me of me and Gajeels situation' she giggled to herself. 'man, i can't believe how much i love him, its embarrassing' she started blushing while staring at the cover of the book.

"you damn bookworm, already digging into the books i see?" Gajeel finished his shower and walked into the room with a towel wrapped around his hips, revealing his masculine torso covered in scars and cleaned wounds.

Levy panicked to herself and ran up to him, she rubbed her hand around his chest feeling out all his scars, "why did you do all this for me?" her eyes began to tear thinking of how painful it must have been for him.

"i already told you why haven't i?" he wrapped his arms around her small body, "because your the one a care about most... because i love you" it became less embarrassing to say it since the first time he said it. "I will risk anything for you, i would go through the pits of hell just for your entertainment." He looked down at the helpless girl in his arms.

Levy looked up at him and stared at him for a few seconds, "...looks like i should get started on those books shouldn't i?" she smiled a smile that Gajeel hasn't seen for over two years.

"Geehee, you better...shorty"


End file.
